Fighting The Stereotype

You, therefore, have no excuse, you who pass judgment on someone else, for at whatever point you judge the other, you are condemning yourself, because you who pass judgment do the same things.
Romans 2:1 NIV

My name is Nick.  I am a grateful believer in Jesus Christ that is in recovery from a critical, judgmental attitude.

Too many years I lived in perpetual judgment of others. To put it simply; I was a jerk. I was a hypocrite. For some reason I wanted to climb up on my soapbox, turn on my megaphone, and announce to the world every every speck of dust (Matt. 7:5), every character defect I saw in you. All the while I lived in denial of my own problems. Why do we do this?

Did it somehow make me feel better about myself? I thought I was observant. God had gifted me with the ability to identify sin…in the lives of others. NOT! I was self-righteous. I was arrogant. I chose to demoralize those around me, those closest to me, because I was unwilling to confront my own moral failures.

I was simply condemning myself. I was living in sin and was unable or unwilling to acknowledge or admit it.

I’m sorry. If I ever hurt you in this way, from the bottom of my heart, I am sorry.

In hindsight, I was merely assuming my stereotypical role as a Christian. I wanted to cram sin down your throat and allow my own to fester.

“You who pass judgment do the same things.”

Do we, as believers, understand this verse? It must be one that we ignore or quickly glance over. We parade as good, loving followers of Christ—yet look down upon the very people he came to save.

“Smoker.”
“I can’t believe he had a glass of wine during dinner.”
“It’s Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve.”
“Look at how she dresses. What a slut.”

That is not love. That is sin. We need to move beyond our prejudices. We need to get over ourselves and start loving people. We are not the judge. We are the ones called to plead the case of Christ, his gospel, to the world. 

So now I am giving you a new commandment: Love each other. Just as I have love you, you should love each other.
John 13:34 NLT

He simply called us to love.